THE MENTAL FACULTIES. 299 



forces, differing from each other, and having certain mutual relations ; 

 but he can form abstract conceptions concerning himself, even con- 

 cerning his mind, as distinguished from his body, thus reaching to the 

 real subjective and objective distinctions of the metaphysician ; for, in 

 the estimation of the latter, even the body is objective to the real sub- 

 jective u ego," or "self." He can likewise form similar conceptions 

 concerning the outer world, the properties of objects, the causes of 

 those properties, the nature of matter and force, the laws of the uni- 

 verse, and so forth. Moreover, he can proceed to reflect and reason 

 upon these abstract ideas and notions, as yet further and independent 

 objects of thought. The higher animals, then, have intelligence, and 

 understand; but man alone is gifted with the power of forming ab- 

 stract conceptions, and again considering these ; in other words, he 

 alone possesses the attributes of pure reason. Thus, an animal, as 

 already said, may attain to a notion of what is hot or cold, pleasant to 

 the taste, or painful to the touch, of the repetitions of objects, of mass, 

 and sequence, but it does not, like man, rise to a conception of tem- 

 perature, taste, or pain, of number, quantity, space, and causation, 

 apart from facts, and from its concrete ideas and notions of experi- 

 ence ; but, beyond this, man is enabled, by his faculty of abstraction, 

 to form the higher abstract ideas, and purely psychical notions or con- 

 ceptions ; proceeding step by step till he arrives at notions, dim it may 

 be, of an infinite past, an infinite future, a first and sustaining cause, 

 a Creation and a Creator, and of the inevitable relations of his own 

 nature to the great plan of Providence. 



The instincts of animals are innate impulses, manifested in purposive 

 actions, dependent, not on imitation, or habit, or reason, but on the 

 very nature and organization of the animal itself, which is endowed 

 with certain desires and fears, and acts so as to satisfy the former, 

 and allay the latter. As a rule, these are perfect and uniform in all 

 individuals, and practically immutable in the species, are uncontrolled 

 by reason, or by an abstract desire for advancement, and constitute, 

 indeed, the preponderating motives, or governing causes, of the actions 

 of animals, even of the highest mammalia. In some of them, however, 

 there is seen, even in the wild state, occasional evidence of cunning, 

 which implies a certain exercise of the understanding, and a sagacity 

 which can only be the result of intelligence ; but the end to be gained, 

 is still the gratification of some animal want. Man, likewise, is actu- 

 ated primarily by his instincts in all he does ; these are radical parts 

 of his mental constitution. Many men, both in civilized and uncivil- 

 ized communities, remain, like the animals, mere creatures of instinct; 

 and amongst all men, these common instincts form the basis of their 

 general life; the instinct of self-preservation, and those impulses which 

 lie at the foundation of society and of the domestic relations are the 

 most powerful. But these and the subordinate instincts and desires 

 are variable in degree in different men, and they are controllable by 

 reason and by will. Hunger and love are the momenta of human 

 action ; but man need not steal, nor yield to the suggestions of passion. 

 Hence his liberty, his free-will, and his responsibility. As conse- 

 quences of this freedom of will, to do or not to do, man's mental and 



